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Visa Presents the Future of Commerce with New Innovation Center and Launch of Visa Checkout

New "One Market" location designed to foster collaboration among Visa technologists, clients and a growing global marketplace of payment innovators and developers

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - July 16, 2014) - Visa Inc., the global leader in payments, today announced the opening of One Market, an innovation center and office space at One Market Street in San Francisco. The move provides Visa technologists, its clients, and partners an innovative space to jointly develop the next generation of commerce applications. As a part of the grand opening of One Market today, Visa also announced the launch of Visa Checkout, a quick and easy payment service that enables consumers throughout the United States, Canada and Australia to pay for goods online, on any device, in just a few clicks.

Visa's new One Market office and innovation center will be home to more than 500 Visa employees, including technology experts and developers whose mission will be to ensure that every Internet connected device, appliance or wearable computer, can become a secure place for commerce.

"Realizing our vision to remain the best way to pay and be paid - for everyone, everywhere - requires a commitment to collaborate and foster innovation," said Charlie Scharf, chief executive officer, Visa Inc. "One Market will enable our product developers to directly engage with clients and partners in the tech community, and extend the security and simplicity of Visa payments to billions of connected devices and new consumer applications."

"As a Canadian company with a global footprint, we have valued Visa's commitment to help us develop innovative technologies that are relevant and accessible in any market," said Mitchell Cobrin, founder and chief executive officer of Montreal-based AnywhereCommerce. "We look forward to achieving future technology milestones with Visa's support as more and more consumers adopt mobile payment solutions worldwide."

Visa Checkout: Easier Way to Pay

According to data from comScore, in the first quarter of 2014, 43 per cent of total eCommerce spending in Canada was done with a Visa product1. Security, ease of use, and loyalty benefits were among the top reasons cited by cardholders when asked why they prefer to use their Visa account when making online purchases2.

For consumers and online retailers, Visa Checkout offers an easy and secure way to pay online. Enrolling in Visa Checkout is intuitive and simple, and shoppers can use any Visa debit or credit card or even other branded cards to make purchases from a PC, mobile device or within a mobile app. Once enrolled, shoppers simply provide their username and password to complete the payment process -- without ever having to leave the merchant's website.

"Canadians are increasingly shopping online via multiple devices," said Brian Weiner, Vice President, Product and Strategy, Visa Canada. "Visa Checkout provides Canadian consumers a simplified and secure online checkout experience, without their having to continually re-enter payment and billing information, from the Visa brand and an issuer they already know and trust."

The online checkout experience continues to be a consumer pain point with shopping cart abandonment rates as high as 68 per cent3, according to research firm, eMarketer. In some cases, consumers have to click through multiple screens, filling out detailed information, before completing a purchase. The problem is even more pronounced as devices become smaller with 86 per cent of shoppers never completing their purchases on mobile devices3.

Strong Merchant Relationships

Cineplex Entertainment, Beyond the Rack, ClearlyContacts.ca, World Vision, and Cymax Canada are some of the top online retailers currently offering Visa Checkout in Canada. Other retailers, including lululemon athletica, Staples Canada, Ticketmaster, United Airlines, Newegg.ca and Tigerdirect, will be unrolling Visa Checkout for quick and easy online payments. Visa Checkout replaces the V.me by Visa service, first introduced in 2012.

"A quick, easy online checkout is part of our commitment to provide guests with an exceptional entertainment experience," said Pat Marshall, Vice President, Communications and Investor Relations, Cineplex Entertainment. "Visa Checkout makes it even easier for movie-goers to skip the box office line and purchase their tickets at Cineplex.com."

Visa Checkout SDK

With the launch of Visa Checkout, a new mobile SDK is also available, allowing developers to quickly build and implement a native in-app checkout experience for iOS and Android-based devices.

The Visa Checkout SDK files and related documentation are available for download from the Visa Developers website at http://developer.visa.com/visacheckout. The Visa Developers program offers tools, technology and support for developers interested in building innovative payment solutions.

Visa Checkout Availability

Starting today, consumers can sign up and use Visa Checkout through a participating merchant or directly at visacheckout.ca.

Retailers in Canada support the launch of Visa Checkout. The following are quotes by merchants currently using Visa Checkout:

"As an online retailer, our members expect their purchase experience to be quick and effortless," said Richard Cohene, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Beyond the Rack. "Beyond the Rack is thrilled to offer Visa Checkout as a secure payment option to help remove friction at the checkout, especially as we optimize the mobile shopping experience for our customers."

"ClearlyContacts.ca built its brand by offering designer glasses and brand name contact lenses to Canadians who chose the convenience of using online commerce to pay for their purchases," said Braden Hoeppner, Chief Marketing Officer, ClearlyContacts.ca. "Visa Checkout will help to streamline the web and mobile checkout experience for our customers."

About Visa

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing networks - VisaNet - that is capable of handling more than 47,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products.